THE EVOLUTIONARY ECOLOGY OF ROTUMAN POLITICAL-INTEGRATION

On the basis of the constructs of evolutionary ecology, this article p resents an explanation for political integration during the prehistori c-protohistoric period on Rotuma, Fiji. Archaeological, ethnohistorica l, and environmental data are analyzed with a geographic information s ystem (GIS) to define the natural and social constraints according to which specific behavioral strategies conferred benefits to the people who employed them. The analysis suggests that during the prehistoric-p rotohistoric period chiefs from the relatively less productive, easter n side of Rotuma dominated the political arena. The integration of the island into a single, loose polity provided the eastern chiefs with s ocial and material benefits. Because of these benefits, the eastern ch iefs sought to perpetuate the political structure. Individuals from ot her districts participated in the hegemonic political structure becaus e they reaped long-term benefits, suffered minimal costs, and perceive d relatively fewer advantages in obtaining pan-Rotuman positions. Give n the specific environmental context of this relatively isolated islan d, the formation of an island-wide polity provided selective advantage s to its members. (C) 1995 Academic Press, Inc.